THe tanker market has faced a busy schedule of sanctions lately, with trade in Russian and Iranian oil on the front lines. In his latest weekly report, the Gibson ship said that “Right before the end of its presidency, the Biden government gave a farewell prize to the tanker market as the Foreign Asset Control Office (ofAC) imposed sanctions in 155, especially the tanker affiliated with Russia. On the same week, Shandong Port Group, home to the refiners who were responsible for significant crude oil imports from countries under the US embargo, prohibited agreed tankers to call their ports in East China. The following weeks saw some of the transfer of trade flow and rising goods tariffs, especially for VLCC, because Iranian and Russian crude oil buyers tried to diversify their import flow to protect supply “.
According to Gibson, “Not long after Donald Trump came to power, he confirmed that the” maximum pressure “policy from his first government would be restored, increasing the hope that the widespread sanctions and law enforcement sanctions in Iran’s oil trade would come. Furthermore from the US, Britain and EU, and has returned to earth.
Source: Gibson Shipbroker
The Shipbroker said that “Russian crude oil imports to India, one of the main importers of Russian crude oil, initially dropped below the average 2024 with 200 KBD in January, and 300KBD in February, which was compensated by an increase in imports from West Africa and Latin America. However, Russian crude oil imports to India have recovered so far in March to the post-Ukraine war level above average, may be supported by prices that recently dropped below the price threshold “.
Meanwhile, “Chinese crude oil imports seem to have seen a stronger impact, such as the streams from Iran, Venezuela, and Russia are 800 and 900KBD lower in January and February from the average 2024, each. However, these numbers need to be taken with a salt, because Chinese crude oil imports from all sources are significantly lower in January, and not all barrels imported in February have been detailed. Likewise with India, so far in March imports from Iran, Venezuela and Russia returned to above 2024 levels. Running cuts by independent refineries in Shandong may also have contributed to the reduction of imports, because changes in tax regulations come into force on January 1 which are highly affected by purification margin, “said Gibson.
“It was reported that the Trump government was considering an international agreement to examine Iranian oil tankers at sea, even though the details were limited. Overall, this can show that an increase in sanctions has a temporary impact on sea flow that seems to normalize again because the solution has been found. An alternative explanation is that the full effect has not been felt. It was reported today that several Chinese state oil companies stop the purchase of Russian oil for March loading, which will support this thesis. Thus, the effect of sanctions on the use of dark fleets and sanctions is still unclear “, the ship concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News worldwide
